Acting
Governor Richard Codey in his first order of business today
signed an executive order to establish a Mental Health Task
Force that will recommend how we can “help the mentally
ill lead better lives”. The task force will be chaired
by Robert Davison and will be made up of experts in the
field of mental health including Sylvia Axelrod, the Executive
Director of NAMI NEW JERSEY. Governor Codey stated that
“this is not an excuse to study something to death,
this has happened too many times before”. The new Governor
described our current system as “dysfunctional”
and charge the task force to work quickly to make meaningful
recommendations to create a mental health system “that
will be a role model for the rest of the country”.
While money is not necessarily the answer, he asked the
task force members to “think outside of the box”
and to “assume that what we are doing now is wrong”.
Governor Codey said that he expects the task force to make
its recommendations by this coming March.
Acting Governor Codey Creates
Mental Health Task Force
Executive Order Reflects Commitment
to Making Life Better for Mentally Ill
(TRENTON) – Acting Governor
Richard J. Codey today signed an executive order creating
a task force that will recommend ways to better help the
mentally ill lead normal lives.
“Nowhere is the need for help
more prevalent than in the area of mental health,”
said Codey. “If there is anything that my administration
will stand for, it is compassion and standing up for those
who may not be able to stand up for themselves.”
Codey, a long-time advocate for the
mentally ill, dedicated his first day as Acting Governor
to mental health issues, starting the morning with breakfast
at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains.
Prior to signing the executive order,
Codey met with mental health advocates from across New Jersey,
who joined him for the signing ceremony in the Governor’s
Outer Office.
The executive order establishes an
11-member Mental Health Task Force that will examine issues
ranging from housing to jobs to access to care for the mentally
ill.
Under the order, the task force is
required to convene a statewide Mental Health Summit, hold
at least three public hearings and form advisory committees
that may include non-members of the task force.
The task force will submit a final
report to the Acting Governor and the Legislature by March
31, 2005.
“This task force is not to be
perceived as an excuse to study something to death,”
said Codey. “Its members are independent, fresh thinkers
who bring national expertise. They will recommend how we
can better help the mentally ill lead normal lives.”
The Acting Governor appointed the
following as members of the task force:
Robert N. Davison, Chairman:
Executive Director of the Montclair-based Mental Health
Association of Essex County. Davison is responsible for
the day-to-day operations of a comprehensive community mental
health facility serving 1,000 individuals daily. Davison
is a resident of Caldwell, Essex County.
Martin D. Cohen:
President and CEO of MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation,
Inc., a community health philanthropy that provides grants
and other support to community health care organizations
that meet the unmet health needs of a 25-town area west
of Boston. Cohen is a nationally recognized expert on mental
health issues. Cohen is a resident of Needham, Mass.
Christopher Kosseff:
President and CEO of The University of Medicine and Dentistry
of New Jersey School of Behavior Health, which delivers
mental health services to New Jersey’s prisons. Kosseff
is a resident of Monroe Township, Middlesex County.
John V. Jacobi:
Seton Hall Law School Professor and Associate Director of
the school’s Institute of Law and Mental Health. Jacobi
previously served as New Jersey Public Advocate.
Sylvia Axelrod, MA:
Executive Director of NAMI New Jersey (formerly New Jersey
Alliance for the Mentally Ill), a leading self-help support,
education and advocacy organization for individuals and
families affected by serious mental illness. Axelrod is
a resident of Basking Ridge, Somerset County.
Linda Goldwater Gochfeld, M.D.:
Medical Director of SERV Behavioral Health System , Inc.
a private, not-for-profit behavioral healthcare organization
serving adults and children working to recover from and
cope with a serious mental illness or developmental disability.
Gochfeld is a resident of Princeton, Mercer County.
Ange Puig, Ph.D.:
Head of Puig Associates, a full-time psychology practice
based in Cherry Hill, Camden County. Puig is a resident
of Cherry Hill, Camden County.
George H. Brice, Jr. MSW:
Team leader for Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey,
which provides consumer driven mental health services that
support recovery and promote community living. Brice is
a resident of Lindenwold, Camden County.
Jerome J. Johnson:
President and CEO of Family Service Association, which provides
services such as outpatient counseling, day care, partial
hospitalization, and work programs. Johnson is a resident
of Egg Harbor, Atlantic County.
Kevin Michael Martone:
President and CEO of Advance Housing Inc., in Hackensack,
a non-profit provider of affordable housing and support
services to the mentally ill. Martone is a resident of Jefferson
Township, Morris County.
James M. Davy:
Commissioner of New Jersey Human Services, an agency that
serves more than 1 million of New Jersey’s most vulnerable
citizens. Under Davy’s leadership, the Division of
Mental Health Services contracts with 120 community mental
health agencies and operates six psychiatric hospitals throughout
the state. Davy is a resident of Pennington, Mercer County.
Codey also named Kimberly S. Ricketts,
M.Ed., as executive director of the Mental Health Task Force.
Ricketts, who served in the Department of Community Affairs
(DCA) for more than two years, will leave her position as
chief of staff to work for the task force. Before joining
DCA, Ricketts spent 11 years working in behavioral health
and social services with families, children and provider
organizations in North Carolina, Florida and New Jersey.
Ricketts is a resident of Highland Park, Middlesex County.
The executive order is attached:
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NO. 1
WHEREAS, population
growth, economic stresses, emergency and disaster needs,
and other factors have increased the demand for community-based
mental health services and hospital treatment throughout
New Jersey; and
WHEREAS, these demands have placed undue stress and strain
on community-based mental health services for New Jersey
citizens, increased the number of persons seeking inpatient
treatment in local community hospitals and at county-operated
facilities, and increased the census at state adult psychiatric
hospitals; and
WHEREAS, there is a need for greater access to safe and
affordable housing, community-based mental health services,
and supportive social services that has resulted in increased
lengths of stay in hospital settings, utilization of substandard
community housing and homelessness; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of the citizens of
this state to provide a comprehensive mental health services
system so as to assure the availability of, and access to,
treatment, rehabilitation, and supportive services necessary
to assist persons with mental illness reach and maintain
their highest level of functioning in the least restrictive
setting;
